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A wildfire swept through the star-studded hills of Los Angeles on Monday, destroying several large homes and forcing LeBron James and thousands of others to flee. Meanwhile, a blaze in Northern California wine country exploded in size.
The flames that roared up a steep hillside near the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles' Brentwood section illustrated the danger the state faces as high winds batter both ends of California and threaten to turn any spark into a devastating inferno.
At least eight homes were destroyed and six damaged in the LA-area blaze, fire officials said.
No deaths from either blaze were reported, but a firefighter was seriously injured in the blaze in Sonoma County wine country. Authorities later said he was in stable condition.
Some 2.2 million people lacked electricity after California's biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, shut it off over the weekend in the northern part of the state to prevent its equipment from sparking blazes during windy weather. More deliberate blackouts are possible in the coming days because another round of strong winds is expected.
The company, which was driven into bankruptcy after its equipment ignited several deadly wildfires in recent years, admitted Monday that despite the outages, its power lines may have started two smaller fires over the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area.I 🙏🏾 for all the families in the area that could be affected by these 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 now! Pretty please get to safety ASAP
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 28, 2019
PG&E also has said its transmission lines may have been responsible for the Sonoma County fire.
That blaze, which broke out last week amid the vineyards and wineries north of San Francisco, grew to at least 116 square miles (300 square kilometres), destroying 123 buildings including 57 homes, damaging another dozen homes and threatening 90,000 more structures, authorities said.
Although about 30,000 people were allowed back home Monday afternoon, about 156,000 people were still under evacuation orders because of the fire, mostly from the city of Santa Rosa. People on the eastern side of the fire and in neighbouring Lake County also were given evacuation warnings to be prepared to leave because of changing winds.
The flames didn't discriminate. In wine country, farmworkers who toil in the vineyards were among those displaced. In Los Angeles, James and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were driven from their homes.
"Man these LA (fires) are no joke," the Los Angeles Lakers star tweeted, using an emoji for the word "fires." "Crazy night."
A driver on the 405 in Southern California captured terrifying footage of the aggressive #GettyFire. #CaliforniaFires #wildfires pic.twitter.com/cRgViQNggb
— Evan Kirstel at #VonageCampus in #SanFrancisco (@evankirstel) October 29, 2019
The Hollywood premiere of Schwarzenegger's "Terminator: Dark Fate" was cancelled Monday night.
Others who own homes in the evacuation zone include Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democrat running for president, who was not home at the time; Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger; and rapper and producer Dr. Dre.
Anxious residents made their way down steep hillsides in the middle of the night in Range Rovers, Teslas and Maseratis. They left behind homes decorated for Halloween — skeletons hanging from homes, goblins sitting on front steps, cobwebs draped over bushes — as a plume of smoke glowed like a giant pumpkin.
David Boyle, 78, awoke at 3 a.m. to his doorbell ringing and police officers pounding on the front door. They warned him the wildfire was advancing toward his house near the Getty complex.
"They said, 'You need to evacuate.' I'm like, 'When?' They said, 'Now,'" Doyle said.
He grabbed dog food and his wife's jewelry and hustled his dogs out the door. They went to a recreation centre.
"It's a fact of life when you live in this area," he said. "Every place has some problem with disasters. People talk about earthquakes here, but I don't think it's as bad as hurricane season."
As the wildfires continue in California, many people will lose everything. It's heartbreaking and can devastate their entire lives. If you can, please consider giving to @calfund to help the victims of these fires. https://t.co/9sf56lpo7Q
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 29, 2019
Tens of thousands of people were ordered to clear out as the fire spread to more than 600 acres and burned at least five homes, authorities said.
The evacuation area extended west into Pacific Palisades, encompassing some of the most exclusive real estate in California, where celebrities and wealthy professionals live in estates nestled in canyons or on ridgetop retreats that cost tens of millions of dollars but are surrounded by tinder-dry vegetation.
READ MORE: California wildfires erupt in LA, burn in wine country
Hours after homes had burned, some of the 1,000-plus firefighters battling the flames were hosing down smouldering ruins. Others attacked flare-ups in the brush-covered wilderness around neighbourhoods.
Helicopters beat the air, and the buzz of chain saws echoed from the canyons. Hills were charred black, and in some places, white ash was all that remained.
The fire shut down southbound lanes of Interstate 405, a major commuting corridor and the route to Los Angeles International Airport from the San Fernando Valley.
The Getty, with its collection of priceless art, was not threatened, fire officials said. The museum gave assurances that its artworks are protected by state-of-the-art technology.
But Mount St. Mary's University evacuated 450 students from its nearby campus. And the University of California, Los Angeles, cancelled classes — not because of any direct threat from the flames but because of disruptions caused by the fire.
Similarly in Northern California, some 40 school districts in Sonoma County cancelled classes, as did the University of California, Berkeley, which had no power because of the outages.
With no rain and more wind in the forecast, the coming days could be grim.
"This is when we have the most potential for large and damaging fires," said Thom Porter, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "All of California is in play right now."
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the weekend.
The biggest evacuation was in Sonoma County, where some people who packed up and fled had done so two years ago, when devastating wildfires swept through the region, killing 44 people.
At an evacuation centre at Napa Valley College, 15-year-old Francisco Alvarado said he, two younger brothers and his parents decided to leave their Calistoga home ahead of evacuation orders. Two years ago, the family had to flee in the middle of the night.
"I'm pretty mad that we have to keep evacuating," he said. "I just want to be home. I'm trying to leave here tomorrow. I want to sleep in my bed."
Associated Press writers Don Thompson and Terence Chea in Santa Rosa, Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, Janie Har in San Francisco and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Stefanie Dazio And Brian Melley, The Associated Press
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By George Will Saturday, 26 May 2018 08:00 PM EDT Current | Bio | Archive
No elaborate catechism is required to determine if someone is a conservative. A single question, as simple as it is infallible, suffices: For whom would you have voted in the presidential election of 1912?
That year, a former president and a future president ran against the incumbent president, who lost, as did the country, which would have been much better off giving another term to William Howard Taft. Instead it got Woodrow Wilson and the modern imperial presidency that had been prefigured by Taft's predecessor and second major opponent in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt. Taft won fewer electoral votes (eight, from Utah and Vermont) than any other incumbent president; Roosevelt carried six states, Wilson 40.
Taft's presidency was bracketed by Roosevelt's and Wilson's, the progenitors of today's imperial presidency. Jeffrey Rosen, law professor at George Washington University and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, began writing his new appreciation of the 27th president ("William Howard Taft," the latest in the series of slender books on "The American Presidents," now edited by Princeton historian Sean Wilentz) in January 2017, when the 45th president began inadvertently doing something useful — validating nostalgia for Taft, whom Rosen calls "the only president to approach the office in constitutional terms above all."
Wilson was the first president to criticize the American founding, particularly for the separation of powers that crimps presidential supremacy. Roosevelt believed that presidents are free to do whatever the Constitution does not forbid. Taft's constitutional modesty held that presidents should exercise only powers explicitly granted by the document.
Romanticizers of Roosevelt ignore his belief that no moral equivalent of war could be as invigorating as the real thing, and they celebrate him as a trustbuster taming corporate capitalism and a pioneering environmentalist. Rosen notes, however, that Taft "extended federal environmental protection to more land than Roosevelt" — and he created 10 national parks — "and brought more antitrust suits in one term than Roosevelt brought in nearly two." One of Roosevelt's excuses for trying to regain the presidency was that Taft, who in 1911 brought an antitrust action against U.S. Steel (world's first billion-dollar corporation, then producing a quarter of the world's steel), was too aggressive in trust-busting. Roosevelt thought that, in industry, big was beautiful (because efficiently Darwinian) if big government supervised it.
Taft signed the first revision of tariffs, which are regressive taxes, since the 1890s, when they were raised by an average of 57 percent. His tariff message to Congress was just 340 words because he thought the Constitution and traditional political practice allowed presidents to recommend, but not lobby for, congressional action. Such was his constitutional reticence, in his inaugural address he referred to tariff reform as "a suggestion only."
Taft unsuccessfully resisted President William McKinley's entreaties that he become governor of the Philippines ("I have never approved of keeping the Philippines"). Others wanted him to be president much more than he did. His aspiration, achieved after the presidency, was to be chief justice of the United States. As a reluctant president, he demonstrated that reluctance, which is vanishingly rare, is a recommendation for the office.
In 1912, Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" promised populism rampant and a plebiscitary presidency untethered from constitutional inhibitions: "I don't think that any harm comes from the concentration of powers in one man's hands." And "I believe in pure democracy," the purity being unmediated, unfiltered public opinion empowered even to overturn state court decisions by referendums. This galvanized Taft's determination to resist Roosevelt ("my closest friend") in the name of judicial independence.
Taft had vetoed the legislation admitting New Mexico and Arizona to statehood because the latter's constitution provided for the recall of judicial decisions. Arizona removed this quintessentially populist provision — then restored it once safely inside the Union.
Taft correctly compared Roosevelt to the first populist president (whose portrait would be hung in the Oval Office in 2017 by a populist president): "There is a decided similarity between Andrew Jackson and Roosevelt. He had the same disrespect for law when he felt the law stood between him and what he thought was right to do."
The 1912 strife between conservative and progressive-populist Republicans simmered until Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 sealed conservatism's ascendancy in the party. This lasted 36 years, until it was supplanted by its antithesis, populism, 104 years after Taft resisted Roosevelt. This, for a while, prevented American from having only a populist Republican Party to oppose a progressive Democratic Party — an echo, not a choice.
George F. Will is one of today's most recognized writers, with more than 450 newspapers, a Newsweek column, and his appearances as a political commentator on Fox news. Read more reports from George Will — Click Here Now.
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subset: commoncrawl


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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 9 (HealthDay News) — Adempas (riociguat) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat two types of pulmonary hypertension, characterized by high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs.
The chronic, disabling disease forces the heart to work harder than usual, and can lead to death or the need for a lung transplant, the FDA said in a news release.
Adempas, among a class of drugs called soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators, relaxes the arteries. This increases blood flow and eases blood pressure, the agency said.
The drug was approved for people with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) after surgery, or for people who cannot have surgery, to help improve the ability to exercise. The drug also was approved for people with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) of various causes.
Adempas was evaluated in a clinical study involving 261 people with CTEPH. People who were treated with the drug were able to walk about 150 feet further in six minutes after 16 weeks of treatment than people who took a placebo, the FDA said.
In another trial of 443 people with PAH, people treated with the drug were able to walk about 118 feet further in six minutes than those who had been treated with a placebo.
The most common side effects of the drug included headache, dizziness, indigestion, tissue swelling, nausea and vomiting.
Adempas' label includes a boxed warning that pregnant women shouldn't use the drug, which can harm a growing fetus, the agency said.
The drug is marketed by Wayne, N.J.-based Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.
More information
The FDA has more about this approval.
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


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There's no question Baghdad needs to take back Mosul from ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. It could not do it before. In theory, the time is now.
The real question is the conflicting motivations of the large "who's who" doing it; the Iraqi Army's 9th Division; the Kurdish Peshmerga, under the baton of wily, corrupt opportunist Barzani; Sunni tribal lords; tens of thousands of Shi'ite militias from southern Iraq; operational "support" from US Special Forces; "targeted" bombing by the US Air Force; and lurking in the background, Turkish Special Forces and air power.
Now that's a certified recipe for trouble.
Much like Aleppo, Mosul is – literally – the stuff of legend. The successor of ancient Nineveh, settled 8000 years ago; former capital of the Assyrian Empire under Sennacheribin the 7th century B.C.; conquered by Babylon in the 6th century B.C.; a thousand years later, annexed to the Muslim empire and ruled by the Umayyads and the Abbasids; the key hub, from the 11th to the 12th century, of the Atabegs medieval state; a key Ottoman hub in a 16th century post-Silk Road spanning the Indian Ocean all the way to the Persian Gulf, the Tigris valley, Aleppo and Tripoli in the Mediterranean.
After WWI, everyone craved Mosul – from Turkey to France. But it was the Brits who managed to dupe France into letting Mosul be annexed to the British Empire's brand new colony: Iraq. Then came the long Arab nationalist Ba'ath party domination. And afterwards, Shock and Awe and hell; the US invasion and occupation; the tumultuous Shi'ite-majority government of Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad; and the ISIS/ISIL/Daesh takeover in the summer of 2014.
Mosul's historic parallels could not but have a special flavor. That 11th/12th century medieval state happened to have roughly the same borders of Daesh's phony "Caliphate" – incorporating both Aleppo and Mosul. In 2004, Mosul was de facto ruled by disgraced, failed "presidential material" Gen. David Petraeus. Ten years later, after Petraeus's phony "surge", Mosul was ruled by a phony Caliphate born in a US prison near the Kuwaiti border.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of residents fled Mosul. The population may be as much as halved compared to the original 2 million. That's a mighty lot to be properly "liberated".
Aleppo "falls"
The hegemonic narrative about the ongoing Battle of (East) Aleppo is that an "axis of evil"(as coined by Hillary Clinton) of Russia, Iran and "the Syrian regime" is relentlessly bombing innocent civilians and "moderate rebels" while causing a horrendous humanitarian crisis.
In fact, the absolute majority of these several thousand-strong "moderate rebels" is in fact incorporated and/or affiliated with Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (Conquest of Syria Front), which happens to be none other than Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria, alongside a smatter of other jihadi groups such as Ahrar al-Sham (Al-Nusra's goals – and who supports them – are fully documented here).
Meanwhile, few civilians remain trapped in eastern Aleppo – arguably no more than 30,000 or 40,000 out of an initial population of 300,000.
And that brings us to the crux of the matter explaining the Pentagon sabotage of the Russia-US ceasefire; those fits of rage by Samantha Batshit Crazy Power; the non-stop spin that Russia is committing "war crimes".
If Damascus controls, apart from the capital, Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Latakia, it controls the Syria that matters; 70% of the population and all the important industrial/business centers. It's practically game over. The rest is a rural, nearly empty back of beyond.
For the headless chicken school of foreign policy currently practiced by the lame duck Obama administration, the ceasefire was a means to buy time and rearm what the Beltway describes as "moderate rebels". Yet even that was too much for the Pentagon, which faces a determined Syria/Iran/Russia alliance fighting all declinations of demented Salafi-jihadis, whatever their terminology, and committed to keep a unitary Syria.
So reconquering the whole of Aleppo has to be the top priority for Damascus, Tehran and Moscow. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) will never have enough military to reconquer the rural, ultra hardcore Sunni back of beyond. Damascus may also never reconquer the Kurdish northeast, the embryonic Rojava; after all the YPG is directly backed by the Pentagon. Whether an independent Rojava will ever see the light of day is an interminable future issue to be solved.
The SAA, once again, is tremendously overextended. Thus, the method to reconquer East Aleppo is indeed hardcore. There is a humanitarian crisis. There is collateral damage. And this is only the beginning. Because sooner or later the SAA, supported by Hezbollah and Iraqi Shi'ite militias, will have to reconquer East Aleppo with boots on the ground as well – supported by Russian fighter jets.
The heart of the matter is that the former "Free Syrian Army", absorbed by al-Qaeda in Syria and other Salafi-jihadis, is about to lose East Aleppo. Regime change and/or "Assad must go" – the military way – in Damascus is now impossible. Thus the utter desperation exhibited by the Pentagon's Ash "Empire of Whining" Carter, neocon cells implanted all across lame duck Team Obama, and their hordes of media shills.
Enter Plan B; the Battle of Mosul.
Fallujah remixed?
The Pentagon plan is deceptively simple; erase any signs of Damascus and the SAA east of Palmyra. And this is where the Battle of Mosul converges with the recent Pentagon attack on Deir Ezzor. Even if we have an offensive in the next few months against Raqqa – by the YPG Kurds or even by Turkish forces – we still have a "Salafist principality" from eastern Syria to western Iraq all mapped up, exactly as the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was planning (dreaming?) in 2012.
London-based Syrian historian Nizar Nayouf, as well as unnamed diplomatic sources, have confirmed that Washington and Riyadh closed a deal to let thousands of phony Caliphate jihadis escape Mosul from the west, as long as they head straight to Syria. A look at the battle map tells us that Mosul is encircled from all directions, except west.
But what about Sultan Erdogan in all this? He's been spinning that Turkish Special Forces will enter Mosul just as they entered Jarablus in the Turkish-Syrian border; without firing a shot, when the city will be cleaned of jihadis.
Meanwhile, Ankara is preparing its spectacular entrance in the battlefield, with Erdogan in full regalia shooting at random. For him, "Baghdad" is no more than "an administrator of an army composed of Shi'ites"; and the YPG Kurds "will be removed from the Syrian town of Manbij" after the Mosul operation. Not to mention that Ankara and Washington are actively discussing the offensive against Raqqa, as Erdogan has not abandoned his dream of a "safe zone" of 5,000 km in northern Syria.
In a nutshell; for Erdogan, Mosul is a sideshow. His priorities remain a fractured, fragmented Syria, "safe zone" included; and to smash the YPG Kurds (while working side by side with the Peshmerga in Iraq).
As far as the US Plan B is concerned, Hezbollah's Sheikh Nasrallah has clearly seenthrough the whole scheme; "The Americans intend to repeat the Fallujah plot when they opened a way for ISIL to escape towards eastern Syria before the Iraqi warplanes targeted the terrorists' convoy." He added that "the Iraqi army and popular forces" must defeat ISIS/ISIL/Daesh in Mosul; otherwise, they will have to chase them out across eastern Syria.
It's also no wonder that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also clearly seen The Big Picture: "As far as I know, the city is not fully encircled. I hope it's because they simply couldn't do it, not because they wouldn't do it. But this corridor poses a risk that Islamic State fighters could flee from Mosul and go to Syria."
It's clear Moscow won't sit idly by if that's the case;"I hope the US-led coalition, which is actively engaged in the operation to take Mosul, will take it into account."
Of course Mosul – even more than Aleppo – poses a serious humanitarian question.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates as many as 1 million people may be affected. Lavrov goes straight to the point when he insists "neither Iraq nor its neighbors currently have the capacity to accommodate such a large number of refugees, and this should have been a factor in the planning of the Mosul operation."
It may not have been. After all, for the "US-led" (from behind?) coalition, the number one priority is to ensure the phony Caliphate survives, somewhere in eastern Syria. Over 15 years after 9/11, the song remains the same, with the war on terra the perennial gift that keeps on giving.


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This is my first challenge.. Sorry if you think it's stupid. xD
Okay! For this challenge, I want you guys to make a card centered around love. Pretty simple, huh? I know. orz
Everyone loves something. Parents, friends, boyfriend, girlfriend, pets, food, anime character.. The like.
But the catch: It has contain lyrics from a love song.
RULES:- No more than 3 entries per person.
- It can be yaoi or yuri, I don't care. Just keep it clean.
- Follow the rules of theO.
- Give ALL sources! Lyrics/song and pictures!
- Just anime pictures. No RL ones.
1st place gets 3 card requests and 1 wallpaper request
2nd place gets 2 card requests
3rd place gets 1 card request


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How much is that accessory dwelling worth? How do we really put a value on it? It's not always easy to figure that out in real estate, so I wanted to share some of the issues I tend to think through as an appraiser when there is an accessory unit on a property. Anything you'd add? I'd love to hear your take.
Things to consider when valuing a property with an accessory dwelling:
1) Comps: How much are other homes with accessory units selling for? This is a fundamental question to ask. Since data is often limited we might have to look through years of neighborhood sales (or competitive neighborhoods) to try to find something that has sold with an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). Even if the sales are older or a bit different in size we can at the least come up with a percentage or price adjustment to try to get a sense of what the market has been willing to pay. Ideally we'd find three model match sales in the past 90 days, but that's probably not going to happen. Remember, we might not use the really old sales as comps, but we can still use some of the older data to get a sense for how the market has behaved regarding accessory units.
2) ADU Minimum: At a minimum an accessory unit needs to have a bathroom, sleeping area, and kitchen. This means an outbuilding without a bathroom really isn't an accessory unit. And that Man Cave / She Shed isn't an accessory dwelling because it's basically a game room meant for hanging out instead of living.
3) 2nd Unit or Not: Are we dealing with a second unit or an accessory unit? It might sound like I'm splitting hairs to ask this question, but there is actually a difference between a full-fledged second unit and something that would be classified as an "accessory" unit (or "Granny flat", "Mother-in-Law" unit, or "Guest Quarters"). I wrote a post here to describe the difference. In short, whether something is a full second unit or merely an accessory dwelling could potentially change the way we approach valuing the unit and which comps we choose.
4) Just a House: How much would the property sell for if it just had a house without an accessory unit? This doesn't help us put a value on the accessory unit, but in a sense it helps us start gauging value for the neighborhood. This at least gives us a place to begin.
5) Combining Square Footage: Often times an accessory unit's square footage gets lumped into the main square footage of the house. This happens in MLS and sometimes it happens in Tax Records. So we might read a home is 2000 sq ft when in reality the main home is only 1400 sq ft and the accessory unit is 600 sq ft. In this example we don't really have a 2000 sq ft house but rather a 1400 sq ft house with an accessory unit. The question becomes, could the subject property sell on par with homes that are 2000 sq ft? Maybe. Maybe not. This is where we have to do research. I will say quite a few properties are priced based on a lumped square footage and then they end up sitting instead of selling. This is not always the case, but it reminds us to be careful about assuming a home with an accessory unit is always going to have the same value as a larger home.
6) Permits: Was the accessory unit permitted? If you are hoping to see more significant value recognized for an accessory dwelling, having permits is a key factor. My friend Gary Kristensen in Portland wrote a post on ADUs and he says, "Provide the appraiser and your lender with documentation that your ADU was legally permitted. Also, list information about rental income, expenses, and detail construction costs (if your unit was recently constructed)." Good advice, Gary.
7) Rent: Can the accessory unit be legally rented? What is the market rent? This is where we might use the Income Approach to come up with a value (another blog post). Imagine an accessory dwelling has a market rent of $1000 per month. Now imagine an appraiser says the extra unit is worth $10,000. Does that seem reasonable? Doesn't it seem low right away since the unit would be 100% paid for after 10 months? Or imagine a unit rents for $300 but it's being given $150,000 in value. Doesn't that seem excessive based on the low rent? Thus sometimes when we know market rent we can begin to sniff out whether a value adjustment is even approaching reasonable.
8) Square Footage Adjustment: If I'm adjusting $50 per sq ft for extra square footage in my report, would it be reasonable to see that same adjustment for the 600 sq ft accessory dwelling? This is only a question I ask myself. There isn't a constant where the market will pay the same amount for square footage for the main dwelling and something else (converted basement, converted garage, accessory unit). Part of it depends on quality too. If the extra unit has a quality clearly below the main house, it's probably not reasonable to see buyers pay the same amount for square footage outside the house. Though if the quality is the same, we might be looking at an adjustment that is similar or the same to that which is given to the house. Again, there is no rule here. This is only a question I ask myself in the background when approaching an accessory unit. I would never automatically give an adjustment like this. Remember, square footage adjustments are NOT based on the entire value of the property divided by the square footage.
9) Cost vs. Value: We all know the cost of something doesn't necessarily translate to the value, but cost can help us gauge quality. There might be a difference in value for an accessory unit that cost $125,000 compared to $15,000, right? This is basic logic, but let's not overlook the importance of it.
I hope that was helpful.
Questions: Anything you'd add? Did I miss something? If you work in real estate, how do you come up with the value of an accessory unit? I'd love to hear your take.
If you liked this post, subscribe by email (or RSS). Thanks for being here.


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Torrans, Eugene | |
Ott, Brian |
Submitted to: Aquaculture America Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2008 Publication Date: 2/15/2009 Citation: Torrans, E.L., Ott, B.D. 2009. Comparative Oxygen Tolerance of Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus and Channel Catfish I. punctatus [Abstract]. In: Book of Abstracts. Aquaculture America, February 15-19, 2009, Seattle, Washington. p. 257. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) have several advantages over channel catfish (I. punctatus) as commercial culture fish. They are more resistant to ESC, PGD, and CCVD, major diseases of channel catfish. They are very easy to seine, with a near-total harvest possible with one seine haul, and may exhibit more uniform growth. They have a greater carcass yield (headed, gutted, skinned) than channel catfish, although they do yield a smaller shank filet. Perhaps the biggest perceived disadvantage is the reported poorer tolerance of low dissolved oxygen (DO) by blue catfish; however, this assessment has been based largely on anecdotal evidence. Studies were conducted in 15 1-acre and/or six ¼-acre ponds over four different years to determine the effect of low DO concentration on the feed consumption and other production parameters of blue catfish (BC) compared to channel catfish (CC). The oxygen treatments were based on the mean minimum DO concentration during the growing season (June-September). Control ponds in each study were maintained with a minimum DO concentration above 4.3 mg/L; test ponds were maintained at 1.6 – 3.0 mg/L in different studies (see figure). The fish were fed once daily to apparent satiation in all studies. Ponds were clean harvested at the end of the growing season. The results indicate that low DO has less of an impact on the feed consumption and other production parameters of BC than CC. At a mean minimum DO concentration of 1.7 mg/L, feed consumption of CC was reduced by 45%; at 1.6-1.7 mg/L, feed consumption of BC was reduced by only 21%. Behavior may play a larger role than physiology in the perceived differences in the species. The data indicates that blue catfish may have more potential as a commercial food fish than previously thought. |


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18A.1 SIR EGRABELL had sonnes three, Refrain: Blow thy horne, good hunter Sir Lyonell was one of these. Refrain: As I am a gentle hunter 18A.2 Sir Lyonell wold on hunting ryde, Vntill the forrest him beside. 18A.3 And as he rode thorrow the wood, Where trees and harts and all were good, 18A.4 And as he rode over the plaine, There he saw a knight lay slaine. 18A.5 And as he rode still on the plaine, He saw a lady sitt in a graine. 18A.6 Say thou, lady, and tell thou me, What blood shedd heere has bee. 18A.7 Of this blood shedd we may all rew, Both wife and childe and man alsoe. 18A.8 For it is not past 3 days right Since Sir Broninge was mad a knight. 18A.9 Nor it is not more than 3 dayes agoe Since the wild bore did him sloe. 18A.10 Say thou, lady, and tell thou mee, How long thou wilt sitt in that tree. 18A.11 She said, I will sitt in this tree Till my friends doe feitch me. 18A.12 Tell me, lady, and doe not misse, Where that your friends dwellings is. 18A.13 Downe, shee said, in yonder towne, There dwells my freinds of great renowne. 18A.14 Says, Lady, Ile ryde into yonder towne And see wether your friends beene bowne. 18A.15 I my self wilbe the formost man That shall come, lady, to feitch you home. 18A.16 But as he rode then by the way, He thought it shame to goe away; 18A.17 And vmbethought him of a wile, How he might that wilde bore beguile. 18A.18 Sir Egrabell, he said, My father was; He neuer left lady in such a case; 18A.19 Noe more will I . . . * * * * * 18A.20 And a[fter] that thou shalt doe mee Thy hawkes and thy lease alsoe. 18A.21 Soe shalt thou doe at my command The litle fingar on thy right hand. 18A.22 Ere I wold leaue all this with thee, Vpoon this ground I rather dyee. 18A.23 The gyant gaue Sir Lyonell such a blow, The fyer out of his eyen did throw. 18A.24 He said then, if I were saffe and sound, As with-in this hower I was in the ground, 18A.25 It shold be in the next towne told How deare thy buffett it was sold; 18A.26 And it shold haue beene in the next towne said How well thy buffett it were paid. 18A.27 Take 40 daies into spite, To heale thy wounds that beene soe wide. 18A.28 When 40 dayes beene at an end, Heere meete thou me both safe and sound. 18A.29 And till thou come to me againe, With me thoust leaue thy lady alone. 18A.30 When 40 dayes was at an end, Sir Lyonell of his wounds was healed sound. 18A.31 He tooke with him a litle page, He gaue to him good yeomans wage. 18A.32 And as he rode by one hawthorne, Even there did hang his hunting horne. 18A.33 He sett his bugle to his mouth, And blew his bugle still full south. 18A.34 He blew his bugle lowde and shrill; The lady heard, and came him till. 18A.35 Sayes, The gyant lyes vnder yond low, And well he heares your bugle blow. 18A.36 And bidds me of good cheere be, This night heele supp with you and me. 18A.37 Hee sett that lady vppon a steede, And a litle boy before her yeede. 18A.38 And said, lady, if you see that I must dye, As euer you loued me, from me flye. 18A.39 But, lady, if you see that I must liue, * * * * *
18B.1 A KNIGHT had two sons o sma fame, Refrain: Hey nien nanny Isaac-a-Bell and Hugh the Graeme. Refrain: And the norlan flowers spring bonny 18B.2 And to the youngest he did say, What occupation will you hae? Refrain: When the, etc. 18B.3 Will you gae fee to pick a mill? Or will you keep hogs on yon hill? Refrain: While the, etc. 18B.4 I winna fee to pick a mill, Nor will I keep hogs on yon hill. Refrain: While the, etc. 18B.5 But it is said, as I do hear, That war will last for seven year, Refrain: And the, etc. 18B.6 With a giant and a boar That range into the wood o Tore. Refrain: And the, etc. 18B.7 Youll horse and armour to me provide, That through Tore wood I may safely ride. Refrain: When the, etc. 18B.8 The knicht did horse and armour provide, That through Tore wood Graeme micht safely ride. Refrain: When the, etc. 18B.9 Then he rode through the wood o Tore, And up it started the grisly boar. Refrain: When the, etc. 18B.10 The firsten bout that he did ride, The boar he wounded in the left side. 18B.10r When the, etc. 18B.11 The nexten bout at the boar he gaed, He from the boar took aff his head. 18B.11r And the, etc. 18B.12 As he rode back through the wood o Tore, Up started the giant him before. 18B.12r And the, etc. 18B.13 O cam you through the wood o Tore, Or did you see my good wild boar? 18B.13r And the, etc. 18B.14 I cam now through the wood o Tore, But woe be to your grisly boar. 18B.14r And the, etc. 18B.15 The firsten bout that I did ride, I wounded your wild boar in the side. 18B.15r And the, etc. 18B.16 The nexten bout at him I gaed, From your wild boar I took aff his head. 18B.16r And the, etc. 18B.17 Gin you have cut aff the head o my boar, Its your head shall be taen therfore. 18B.17r And the, etc. 18B.18 Ill gie you thirty days and three, To heal your wounds, then come to me. 18B.18r While the, etc. 18B.19 Its after thirty days and three, When my wounds heal, Ill come to thee. 18B.19r When the, etc. 18B.20 So Graeme is back to the wood o Tore, And hes killd the giant, as he killd the boar. 18B.20r And the, etc.
18C.1 SIR ROBERT BOLTON had three sons, Refrain: Wind well thy horn, good hunter And one of them was called Sir Ryalas. Refrain: For he was a jovial hunter 18C.2 He rangd all round down by the woodside, Till up in the top of a tree a gay lady he spyd. Refrain: For he was, etc. 18C.3 O what dost thou mean, fair lady? said he; O the wild boar has killed my lord and his men thirty. Refrain: As thou beest, etc. 18C.4 O what shall I do this wild boar to see? O thee blow a blast, and hell come unto thee. Refrain: As thou beest, etc. 18C.5 [Then he put his horn unto his mouth], Then he blowd a blast full north, east, west and south. Refrain: As he was, etc. 18C.6 And the wild boar heard him full into his den; Then he made the best of his speed unto him. Refrain: To Sir Ryalas, etc. 18C.7 Then the wild boar, being so stout and so strong, He thrashd down the trees as he came along. Refrain: To Sir Ryalas, etc. 18C.8 O what dost thou want of me? the wild boar said he; O I think in my heart I can do enough for thee. Refrain: For I am, etc. 18C.9 Then they fought four hours in a long summers day, Till the wild boar fain would have gotten away. Refrain: From Sir Ryalas, etc. 18C.10 Then Sir Ryalas drawd his broad sword with might, And he fairly cut his head off quite. 18C.10r For he was, etc. 18C.11 Then out of the wood the wild woman flew: Oh thou hast killed my pretty spotted pig! 18C.11r As thou beest, etc. 18C.12 There are three things I do demand of thee, Its thy horn, and thy hound, and thy gay lady. 18C.12r As thou beest, etc. 18C.13 If these three things thou dost demand of me, Its just as my sword and thy neck can agree. 18C.13r For I am, etc. 18C.14 Then into his locks the wild woman flew, Till she thought in her heart she had torn him through. 18C.14r As he was, etc. 18C.15 Then Sir Ryalas drawd his broad sword again, And he fairly split her head in twain. 18C.15r For he was, etc. 18C.16 In Bromsgrove church they both do lie; There the wild boars head is picturd by 18C.16r Sir Ryalas, etc.
18D.1 AS I went up one brook, one brook, Refrain: Well wind the horn, good hunter I saw a fair maiden sit on a tree top. Refrain: As thou art the jovial hunter 18D.2 I said, Fair maiden, what brings you here? It is the wild boar that has drove me here. Refrain: As thou art, etc. 18D.3 I wish I could that wild boar see; Refrain: Well wind the horn, good hunter, And the wild boar soon will come to thee. Refrain: As thou art, etc. 18D.4 Then he put his horn unto his mouth, And he blowd both east, west, north and south. Refrain: As he was, etc. 18D.5 The wild boar hearing it into his den, [Then he made the best of his speed unto him]. 18D.6 He whetted his tusks for to make them strong, And he cut down the oak and the ash as he came along. Refrain: For to meet with, etc. 18D.7 They fought five hours one long summers day, Till the wild boar he yelld, and hed fain run away. Refrain: And away from, etc. 18D.8 O then he cut his head clean off, . . . . . 18D.9 Then there came an old lady running out of the wood, Saying, You have killed my pretty, my pretty spotted pig. Refrain: As thou art, etc. 18D.10 Then at him this old lady she did go, And he clove her from the top of her head to her toe. 18D.10r As he was, etc. 18D.11 In Bromsgrove churchyard this old lady lies, And the face of the boars head there is drawn by, 18D.11r That was killed by, etc.
18E.1 THERE was an old man and sons he had three; Refrain: Wind well, Lion, good hunter A friar he being one of the three, With pleasure he ranged the north country. Refrain: For he was a jovial hunter 18E.2 As he went to the woods some pastime to see, He spied a fair lady under a tree, Sighing and moaning mournfully. Refrain: He was, etc. 18E.3 What are you doing, my fair lady? Im fightened the wild boar he will kill me; He has worried my lord and wounded thirty. Refrain: As thou art, etc. 18E.4 Then the friar he put his horn to his mouth, And he blew a blast, east, west, north and south, And the wild boar from his den he came forth. Refrain: Unto the, etc. * * * * *
18F.1 SIR RACKABELLO had three sons, Refrain: Wind well your horn, brave hunter Sir Ryalash was one of these. Refrain: And he was a jovial hunter


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Pack Details
Title: Michael and Evita's Homework Review
This pack of classes is built up of Michael and Evita's signature workshops. Enjoy this pack whether or not you have taken class with them. Those who have will find important review of special moves like The Zorro, The Blues Lift and many others. If you have not had class with Michael and Evita, this is a great way to see what you've missed and will encourage you to find them in person.
Dance genre: Lindy Hop
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When you purchase this Lesson Pack, you get access to all of the lessons contained in this pack, and at a significant discount.
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Innovative Rehab Method Giving Combat Amputees an Active Life
A new medical, counseling and sports rehabilitation program helps combat amputees regain their independence.
Combat amputees have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan physically and emotionally devastated. Charles Scoville has given them new hope.
At the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Scoville developed an innovative medical, counseling and sports rehabilitation program that helps combat amputees regain their independence, restore their sense of dignity and self-worth, and allows them to lead active lives.
"It's an interdisciplinary approach to patient care that looks at our patients as tactical athletes," said Scoville, chief of the Amputee Patient Care Service and a former Army physical therapist. "They do things they never did before and reach more high level activities than in the past."
Scoville oversees the staff that is currently working with about 170 amputees and has helped drive research into advances in prostheses. Some of the 1,450 injured service members who have been through the program have gone on to complete triathlons, climb Mt. Everest and compete in gymnastics, skiing, rowing and other sports.
"Our wounded warriors have been out running, on a bear hunt or scuba diving in Guantanamo Bay," Scoville said. "It continually reinforces that everything is going to be okay."
More than 300 have gone back into military service, and 53 have redeployed into Iraq or Afghanistan, including one individual with an above-the-knee amputation who went on to lead 350 Marines overseas.
A decade ago, the military was equipped mainly for treating a small number of active-duty amputees and older amputees who had lost limbs due to diabetes or vascular problems, not in combat. Care consisted mainly of getting patients mobile enough to be discharged or transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for care.
"What we aim for is the soldiers to make the decision of what they will do with the rest of their lives, and take it away from the person who set the improvised explosive device or fired the rocket-propelled grenade or the rifle," said Scoville.
This profile is part of a series featuring the recipients of the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals. Presented to outstanding public servants by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, and sponsored in part by Bloomberg, Booz Allen Hamilton, The Boston Consulting Group, Chevron and United Technologies Corporation, the prestigious Sammies awards are offered in nine categories. To nominate a federal employee for a 2013 medal go to servicetoamericamedals.org.


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The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How the World's Poorest People Are Educating Themselves, by James Tooley (Cato Institute, 268 pp., $19.95)
University of Newcastle professor James Tooley journeyed to Hyderabad, India in early 2000 at the behest of the World Bank, to study private schools there. Or, more specifically, to study familiar private schools—that is, those that served the children of middle-class and wealthy families.
But while on a sightseeing excursion to the city's teeming slums, Tooley observed something peculiar: private schools were just as prevalent in these struggling areas as in the nicer neighborhoods. Everywhere he spotted hand-painted signs advertising locally run educational enterprises. "Why," he wondered, "had no one I'd worked with in India told me about them?"
Ignorance was surely one reason. Most of Tooley's colleagues, even those who'd spent decades enmeshed in education policy, were simply unaware that these back-alley private schools existed. But the hush surrounding private schools for the poor also had murkier, less-innocent origins. Breaking the silence, Tooley found, could generate hostility. When he related his Hyderabad discovery at the World Bank office in Delhi, for example, one staffer "launched into a tirade": such private schools, she said, were ramshackle and shoddy; they ripped off the poor by charging money for worthless instruction; their owners were motivated solely by profits; and their teachers were unqualified, unskilled, and ineffective.
Her sentiments jibed with the larger development community's notions about private schools for the poor but not with what Tooley saw in the slums of Hyderabad, where he returned several times to visit schools, observe classes, and chat with students, parents, teachers, and owners. The schools' physical structures were indeed mostly ramshackle, but they were assembled no worse (and often far better) than the homes of the neighborhood children who learned in them. The owners seemed responsible and often caring, the teachers engaged and capable. And the parents Tooley met were adamant that the tuition they paid—between $1 and $2 per child, per month—was money well spent. They would never send their kids to the local public schools, they said, where facilities were fancier but teachers were truant.
These organic educational institutions captivated Tooley. Over the last ten years, he has labored to learn more about them, to publicize their existence and their successes, and to battle against the idea that they are insignificant. He passionately recounts this decade-long study in The Beautiful Tree, a book that should shake up adherents of traditional wisdom on education.
"Development experts," as Tooley calls them, have long believed that if citizens of developing countries are to be educated, their governments, helped by heaps of money from rich nations, must invest in free and universal public schooling. If the resultant public education is lousy—as it is in India, for instance—then it must simply be reformed through more money and more regulation. Meanwhile, the poor must be patient.
But the poor have run short of patience, Tooley found, and so they have rejected the development experts' failed syllogism and created one of their own: You open a school, and we'll pay you to teach our children. If they don't learn, we'll stop paying. Therefore, you will ensure that our children receive a solid education.
In slums around the world, from Lagos, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenya to rural villages in Ghana and China and places in between, Tooley has discovered poor people opening small private schools that offer alternatives to dismal or inaccessible public education. The schools charge only pennies a day, and most also provide scholarships to orphans or children of the indigent. One in five students in the Hyderabad slums, for example, attends a private school on some kind of need-based scholarship. Whether in Kibera (Kenya) or Gansu (China), these schools all seem to boast committed and punctual teachers, efficient and attentive owners, and satisfied parents.
Tooley visited numerous public schools in these far-flung places as well, and they also share certain traits: a dearth of discipline; teacher complacency; and classes in which students sit and chat instead of learning. Development experts readily acknowledge the shortcomings of public schools in less-wealthy nations. But Tooley expresses bafflement at their proposed remedies—more regulation, more money, better teaching training—especially when impoverished communities have already improvised and created their own successful alternatives.
Just how successful? Do pupils in private schools for the poor actually learn more than those in public schools? To find out, Tooley assembled and trained research teams that eventually tested 24,000 fourth-graders from impoverished areas who attended a range of schools—private schools recognized by the local government, private schools not so recognized, and public schools—in India, Nigeria, Ghana, and China. His findings are stunning:
The results from Delhi were typical. In mathematics, mean scores of children in government schools were 24.5 percent, whereas they were 42.1 percent in private unrecognized schools and 43.9 percent in private recognized. That is, children in unrecognized private schools scored nearly 18 percentage points more in math than children in government schools (a 72 percent advantage!), while children in recognized private schools scored over 19 percentage points more than children in government schools (a 79 percent advantage).
As goes Delhi, so apparently go Hyderabad, Ghana, Nigeria, and China: private-school students drastically outperformed their public-school peers in every location. Through unannounced visits, researchers also determined that the private schools had smaller class sizes and more committed teachers than the public schools. (This proved true everywhere but China, where class sizes and teacher commitment were similar in all institutions.)
The data Tooley unearthed are fascinating. Not only do networks of private schools for the poor exist across the developing world—networks that emerged without any government- or NGO-sponsored help—but their students learn far more than do those of government- and NGO-funded public schools. These private schools for the poor are not only local, entrepreneurial, and efficient: they work.
The Beautiful Tree could have explored one question more thoroughly: when parents pay tuition, does it affect how they and their children perceive education? Tooley does a fine job mining the ways in which tuition creates school accountability, but might the payments not also render a parent more likely to value his child's schooling and, therefore, to demand that his child be academically diligent? If so, the wisdom of providing free public education might be more tenuous than is generally assumed.
The Beautiful Tree is a refreshing aberration in the stolid ranks of development literature. Tooley writes engagingly and obviously finds the story he tells exciting. His enthusiasm is contagious. One cannot help but think that Tooley has provided the rudimentary outline of how education can be brought to many more millions of the world's poorest.


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Ivan And Alyosha On World Cafe
Listen To Ivan And Alyosha On World Cafe
Courtesy of the artist
Set List
- "Be Your Man"
- "Easy To Love"
- "The Fold"
- "Running For Cover"
Ivan and Alyosha started out as the duo of Tim Wilson and Ryan Carbary, with the band's name coming from characters in the Russian novel The Brothers Karamazov. The two met in 2007 and immediately attracted strong national praise for their first EP, The Verse, The Chorus.
In this interview and studio performance, Wilson discusses the process of creating Ivan and Alyosha's hooky and heartfelt full-length debut, All the Times We Had, with host David Dye. "We didn't get it perfect," Wilson says, "but I definitely think we got it right."


text: Semantic Web journal Special Call for Linked Dataset Descriptions <http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/blog/semantic-web-journal-special-call-linked-dataset-descriptions> Linked Data is a key enabler for the Semantic Web vision, and a decisive step towards a truly "Semantic" Web. The Semantic Web journal calls for brief papers (about 4-6 pages) containing a concise description of a Linked Dataset. The paper shall describe in concise and clear terms key characteristics of the dataset as a guide to its usage for various (possibly unforeseen) purposes. In particular, such a paper shall typically give information, amongst others, on the following aspects of the dataset. * Name, URL, version date and number, licensing, availability, etc. * Topic coverage, source for the data, purpose and method of creation and maintenance, reported useage etc. * Metrics and statistics on external and internal connectivity, use of established vocabularies (e.g., RDF, OWL, SKOS, FOAF), language expressivity, growth. * Examples and critical discussion of typical knowledge modeling patterns used. * Known shortcomings of the dataset. Papers will be evaluated along the following dimensions: Quality of the dataset, usefulness (or potential usefulness) of the dataset, clarity and completeness of the descriptions. Papers should usually be written by people involved in the generation or maintenance of the dataset, or with the consent of these people. Prospective authors must take notice of the submission guidelines posted at http://www.semantic-web-journal.net/authors Deadlines: Paper submission: May 20th, 2012 Notification: Usually within 8 weeks of submission In case of questions, please contact the Editors-in-chief: Pascal Hitzler Krzysztof Janowicz contact at semantic-web-journal.net -- Prof. Dr. Pascal Hitzler Dept. of Computer Science, Wright State University, Dayton, OH pascal at pascal-hitzler.de http://www.knoesis.org/pascal/ Semantic Web Textbook: http://www.semantic-web-book.org Semantic Web Journal: http://www.semantic-web-journal.net


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Countries rely on computer infrastructure for a huge percentage of communications and military management, as well as utilities like electricity. Unfortunately, nuclear attacks release massive electromagnetic pulses that damage these systems.
Normally this isn't much of an issue, since everything in the pulse radius is reduced to ash, but high-altitude nuclear explosions (HANE) can cause serious electronic damage without the hassle of mass death and destruction.
Ignoring the ridiculous improbability, I'd like to know how infrastructure critical to a nation during wartime might be secured against such damage. Since this is purely theoretical, I'd like to see sources for all information. I don't mind what countries you focus on, as a nuclear war is likely to affect all of them.
I know this is a pretty outlandish question, but it's been on my mind for a while and I'd love to see some well-sourced answers on the subject.
P.S. Yes, I did just find a legitimate use for the nuclear-bomb tag.


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Nancy Cohen appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #446. She is most recently the author of Delirium: How the Sexual Counterrevolution is Polarizing America.
Listen: Play in new window | Download
Condition of Mr. Segundo: Getting in touch with his humanist side.
Author: Nancy L. Cohen
Subjects Discussed: Rep. Darrell Issa and the contraception hearing, Komen for the Cure, when the Republican Party was better about women's rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, the McGovernik principle that has crippled progressivism, challenging Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas?, the 2010 special election in Massachusetts in which Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's seat, Stanley Greenberg and Reagan Democrats, why gay marriage is only accepted in certain states, Prop 8, the Defense of Marriage Act, civil unions, the Democratic reluctance to embrace gay marriage, Chris Christie, parallels between civil rights and gay rights, Howard Dean's early efforts to embrace the Internet, Democrats who "run into the present," Reagan's nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor, Reagan's silence on AIDS, conservatism as a three-legged stroll, silly attempts at a political Theory of Everything, Phyllis Schlafly, Ford's support of the ERA, Carter blaming the feminists, political pragmatism as an excuse for diffidence, reproductive rights as a core right, Carter's personal opposition to abortion, the Tea Party Express's financial contributions, the influence of money on politics, the Arkansas Project, David Brock's Blinded by the Right, why birth control hearings is now a wedge issue, the Tea Party as a rebranding of the Christian Right, efforts to dismiss Hillary Clinton, Gail Sheehy's attacks on Hillary, attracting mythical male voters through the Margaret Thatcher strategy, motivating young people to vote as a winning progressive strategy, Obama's timidity on reproductive/gay rights, the clown car of presidential candidates, the lingering effect of Sarah Palin, whether Republican women voters can be courted by Democrats, Lieberman as the first Democrat to denounce Bill Clinton about Lewinksy from the Senate chamber, Sen. Moynihan settling a score with Clinton, the mythical conservative middle, the problems with the 2000 Presidential election, Gore's centrist campaign, the influence of the far right sexual fundamentalists, Mitt Romney's effect on the sexual counterrevolution, and women's rights in 2013.
Correspondent: Your timing is quite impeccable. Because I'm talking with you the day after Representative Issa to basically not allow a woman to testify at the all-male hearing on contraception. I'm talking with you a week after Komen for the Cure initially pulled its funds from Planned Parenthood, saying, "Well, we can't support any organization that is under congressional review," and then changing this to be "Well, we can't support any organization that is referring out its mammograms." So I gotta say, maybe this might be the opportune time to discuss how we got to this point in American political history. How does this constantly wavering excuse fit into the political strategy of the religious right and the forces of what you identify as the sexual counterrevolution? How did this come into play?
Cohen: Well, I'm an evil genius. And when I came up with this idea a couple years ago, I planned for these hearings to take place.
Correspondent: Aha.
Cohen: No, seriously, the first line of my first chapter is "Perhaps if the pill hadn't been invented, American politics would have turned out very differently." And at the time, it was kind of a literary allusion. A way to get some history down. So what we're seeing is really the logical end point of what I call the sexual counterrevolution. Delirium tells the story about how a small group of reactionaries who want to control sex have hijacked American politics. And what we're seeing this week, and last week, is really the essence of the Republican Party. The id of the Republican Party coming out to play because they are so intoxicated with the power that they got in the last elections.
Correspondent: Yes. Well, the id wasn't always there. As you point out in the book, I mean, it's become increasingly id-like over the years. What of the sensible conservative idea? What of the rational reactionary?
Cohen: The sensible conservative ideas Back in the '60s and the '70's, the Republican Party was the small government/personal freedom party. They actually meant it. They were better on women's rights. They were better on sexual freedom really. Even before the sexual revolution, the Republican Party was better. But what happened was, with the sexual revolution and feminism and gay rights, a group of people — surprisingly mostly women — were appalled, freaked out about all these changes and sexual life and women's roles and gays coming out of the closet. And they organized on a grassroots level against these changes. And so they went up against the Equal Rights Amendment. And they won. And then they went after publicly financed child care. And they won. And then they took civil rights away from gays. And they won. And then they methodically started taking over the Republican Party from local, state, and county committees on to the school board until 2008, when they had one of their own, Sarah Palin, on the presidential ticket.
Correspondent: Let's get into this. You point out that George McGovern is one of the key figures responsible for Democratic timidity in relation to the sexual counterrevolution. You suggest that McGovern losing his temper, telling a voter to kiss his ass — that was one factor. The really terrible decision he made involving ordering milk with a liver sandwich in a Jewish deli. Not exactly the smartest choice. There was also this idea that McGovern, because he encompassed this cultural radicalism and failed, that this was what encouraged the Democrats to backpedal. So I'm wondering to what degree is this political temperament and to what degree is this, I suppose, a cultural radicalism that Democrats are afraid of? I mean, 2004, you have Howard Dean's famous scream. And even before that, everybody was like, "Wow, this guy's finally standing up for progressivism." I mean, it seems to me that if you have a situation where the Democratic presidential candidates are limited in what they can say and how they can act, that this kind of progressive idea of, say, supporting something like the Equal Rights Amendment, you're almost not allowed to do that. So how did this state come to be and what solutions do we have for the future?
Cohen: Good question. So the sexual counterrevolution has affected both parties. And in the Democratic Party, it's really about their overreaction to every time they lose. And the way it goes back to McGovern's election is that they convinced themselves that the reason McGovern lost by a landslide is because of all the gays and feminists and multiculturalists that he associated himself with. And so there's this idea that Democratic progressives alienate mainstream America. Mainstream America is conservative. That idea is a fixation of the Democrats. But if you look at the studies of elections and you look at the studies of public opinion, it's not true at all. Democrats have actually won elections for being the more culturally progressive party on women's issues and gay issues and race issues. And so Democrats, I believe, would actually do better if they did embrace their voters' live and let live attitude about people's personal lives and stood on principle for civil rights for every American. But Democrats are timid and they have convinced themselves that they lose on this issue. So it would be good for them to start to recognize that it's a winning issue.
Correspondent: But what data are they using? I mean, it can't just be McGovern that's the linchpin for this.
Cohen: No. So what they generally look at is exit polls and focus groups. And to get a little wonky here…
Correspondent: Sure. Feel free.
Cohen: What I looked at in the books so that no one else really has to — except maybe Democratic strategists can start looking at this stuff — is a lot of research by political scientists and sociologists that do regressions of public opinion polling and elections, and conclusively show that all the things we think are true — you know, that the white working-class man is an economic populist, but a social conservative? Wrong. It's the reverse. He's pro-choice and doesn't like the Democrats's economic policies. That Bush won the election on gay marriage? Wrong. No evidence. That Democrats lose elections for being pro choice? Wrong. Clinton won the election in 1992 on a huge upsurge of pro-choice women and pro-choice men.
Correspondent: You challenge Thomas Frank's ideas in What's the Matter with Kansas? by saying that he was condescending in believing that Kansans were duped into voting for more right-wing candidates and so forth. How do we go ahead and factor in, oh say, scenarios like Scott Brown in Massachusetts? Which is very much a scenario in which arrogance and technocratic approaches tend to destroy a Democratic seat. I mean, how does this play into the sexual counterrevolution? And how do you reconcile this, what seems to me, legitimate Thomas Frank idea with this?
Cohen: So I do criticize Tom Frank for being condescending. But I also criticize him for having no empirical evidence for his argument. And that's the main case. His idea is premised that, one, the working class doesn't vote for Democrats. They actually do. It's premised on the idea that Kansas has been some bulwark of Democratic politics. It's actually been a bulwark of right-wing evangelical fundamentalism. So there's a number of other factual errors. I actually went into the book assuming that I was going to extend Tom Frank's thesis. And I found that it actually went back to this anti-McGovern idea and discovered that there was no evidence for it. And that's when I started moving in this other direction on the sexual counter-revolution. So an election like Scott Brown's, a lot of health care money went in there. A lot of the people that they say are white working-class populist men are actually middle income or better off people. So what you have in a lot of these elections, like 2010 and the Scott Brown election, is you have very low turnout from poor Democratic groups. Young people. Single women. Low income people. And so when the exit polls do show a surge of white men, they often don't figure out, well, where are these men economically? And I do agree that the smugness of the Democratic candidate in that election.
Correspondent: Who we don't want to name. (laughs) And you didn't name in the book and I won't name on this show.
Cohen: Yes.
Correspondent: Traitor!
Cohen: I think she's probably reformed. So I do think that was a case of a sense of the Democrats being entitled to a seat and didn't really see this both right-wing and corporate money coming into that election that year.
Correspondent: If Tom Frank is so wrong with his evidence, then why is that book constantly cited? Why over many decades does the idea of the McGovernik still hold within the Democrats? I think that's the thing I really don't get. If all of the scientific evidence says otherwise, then why are serious Democratic leaders going by this?
Cohen: Well, actually, serious Democratic leaders aren't going by it anymore.
Correspondent: It only took them several decades. (laughs)
Cohen: Yes, well, they read the polls and they read exit polls and they do their own political polling. They don't necessarily read the academic literature. But the key person who articulated this idea of the McGovernik, about the Reagan Democrat: Stanley Greenberg, who I hear is a wonderful man and has done a lot of good work for progressive causes, was one of the people who kept this idea alive. And he runs a polling company. And he uses his own polls. So just after, since 2008, he's basically said, "You know what? The Reagan Democrats aren't the key voting bloc anymore. Democrats need to go for this multiethnic, cosmopolitan, progressive base and they'll pick up enough of these white working-class men to win elections. So it is Tom Frank — and I haven't read his new book, so I don't know how he's amended his thesis. But there has been a shift among the leadership of the Democratic Party. And I think you see with Obama not defending DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act], right? Saying, "I think it's unconstitutional." This is a sign that they're starting to see that good principles are good politics.
The Bat Segundo Show #446: Nancy Cohen (Download MP3)


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In a thread recently there was debate about the merits or otherwise of public sitting. Clearly, this is not something to be done out of ego but does serve to make zazen more visible to the world. After all, seeing a mendicant was one of the 'four sights' reputed to turn Shakyamuni onto the path of dharma.
Anyway, in September I took advantage of a warm late summer/early autumn to take my lunchtime sit outside on a couple of occasions. I live in a relatively small apartment block (40 or so flats) in a rural village in southern England but was still somewhat self-conscious about doing this. My aim was not actually to be doing public zazen but merely to make the most of the sun before the weather got cold.
This morning I had a delivery of some jeans I had ordered for one of my daughters and the courier, who I know reasonably well, mentioned that he had seen me sitting and asked a few questions about meditation, whether I was Buddhist, if it improved my well-being and ability to deal with life and such like. Whether he will go and meditate I have no idea, nor I am attached to the idea of converting people to sitting. However, one thing I did learn was that seeing someone sitting gives people an opportunity to ask questions if they are already interested in the idea, or even just curious.
When I am well enough (and the weather turns nice again!) I hope to do something similar in a park in Canterbury, maybe with a dharma friend for company. A large open space like that is both lovely to sit in and also not in anyone's face. If someone is intrigued it may trigger them to find out more or even come and ask. Anyone interested in Christianity just has to turn up at their local church and I think it is good to give would-be meditators a similar opportunity. Aside from anything else, hopefully it normalises practice as something normal people do and not just sandal-wearing hippy types. Even if it achieves nothing, the park is a lovely space, and often has an ice cream van nearby


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If you're among those who would like to call Mars home someday, we would suggest holding off until at least next fall. That's when NASA says a comet may ram into the Red Planet.
Comet 2013 A1 is currently clipping along at about 125,000 miles per hour and measures somewhere between 0.5 and 2 miles in diameter. Its trajectory is set to cross Mars' orbit in October 2014. How likely are the two bodies to hit? Not very. The chances are a mere 1 in 2,000. But if the comet does hit the surface of Mars, it will deliver a blow equivalent to 35 million megatons of TNT. To put that in perspective, the blast would be 800 million times the energy expelled from the meteor over Russia in February, but only a third the energy of the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Even if the comet misses Mars, coming close would be a big event in and of itself. Check out this video from NASA to get all the nitty gritty details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T2eBSexgX4 Image and video courtesy of NASA


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Title: Level
Series: The Fighters Series Novella #5.5
Author: T.C. Matson
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: December 29, 2017
I'm man enough to admit I screwed up. I'm not proud of my actions, but it is what it is.
I learned from them and now I'm more determined than ever to prove to Paige my heart is hers.
Asking her to marry me was the easiest decision.
Walking down the aisle was simple.
Holding her for the rest of my life—check.
Being a sexy, excellent husband—check.
Staying undefeated—Damn right check.
But Karma has a funny way of getting back at me
And with her sneaky fingers wrapping around my throat
She sets my ass up and I'm in some serious trouble.
Who would've known Levi would become my husband after all the mess?
Giving him a second chance was easy.
Becoming his wife was even easier.
But I never would've known life had extra plans for us.
Fighting is what Levi does the best, until he's surprised with two different types of challenges he's never experienced.
Sucker punched—check.
Challenge accepted—for sure.
Levi might have his flaws and faults, but I couldn't ask for a better man to hold my hand through life.
Or maybe it's me holding his hand.
Can Levi can step up and overcome the obstacles that have been thrown his way or will he be leveled?
TC Matson loves to let her character's voices be heard. With a head full of stories, she puts her keyboard through a beating daily. With an understanding that love isn't always instant and full of flowers—her writing mirrors it.
She's a romance junkie at heart and an avid reader. Add those two together and she will devour books within hours, getting lost in the world the author creates.
Matson resides in the peaceful Piedmont area of NC with her husband and three boys, where staying hopped up on caffeine is the key to her sanity. Chaos is indefinite and a sense of humor is an absolute must.


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Ohm Thai Massage
Great Experience. Traditional Thai Massage. RELAXING THAI MASSAGE IN SAN FRANCISCO
Ohm Thai Massage is passionate about healing. It is our ultimate goal. We take great pride in providing care. With each client, we develop a personal treatment protocol that is as unique as each individual. A dedication to Thai massage is essential in order to properly care for clients. Constant learning, improvement, communication, and attention are the foundational principles upon which Ohm Thai Massage was built. With strong hands, and a happy heart--Ohm Thai Massage of San Francisco is here to serve you.
San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis") (officially the City and County of San Francisco) is a cultural, commercial, and financial center in the U.S. state of California. Located in Northern California, San Francisco is the 17th most populous city proper in the United States, and the fourth most populous in California, with 873,965 residents as of 2020. It covers an area of about 46.9 square miles (121 square kilometers), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city, and the fifth most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is the 12th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States with 4.7 million residents, and the fourth-largest by economic output, with a GDP of $592 billion in 2019. With San Jose, it forms the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, the fifth most populous combined statistical area in the United States, with 9.6 million residents as of 2019.
Anza Vista, Ashbury Heights, Bayview, Central Richmond, Clarendon Heights, Cow Hollow, Crocker-Amazon, Dolores Heights, Excelsior, Fillmore District, Forest Hill, Forest Hill Extension, Forest Knolls, Golden Gate Heights, Ingleside


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After 10 Years, a Move Closer to School and Work
Wow, how moving house interrupts life. I can appreciate we have not had to move about more frequently! Background: Starting at the beginning of May, a month prior to moving, my sage wife Victoria insisted we start the packing of boxes progressively – and thank God we did! It took a good five days to transfer everything over from the Plateau to the Town of Mount Royal. Now that all the boxes, more or less, with exception of books, are gone, and the weeds in the grass are finally almost all pulled out (average sized, but a painfully neglected lawn) and my wrists have recovered from months of intense production DBA work, and thanks to the labour of reseeding the lawn and dumping sixteen bags of 'Magic Mix' dirt/manure on it, I can manage to contribute to the Database Hive again.
Obsessed with Transaction Log Files – without them you really aren't taking a complete backup.
Another reason/excuse for being a wee bit AWOL, is not only the change of house, but that there is never a dull moment fighting the Caisse de Défauts (QC Deposit and Investment Fund) most importantly, and quite satisfying it is to hear other major consulting firms had sounded the alarm when I did also (see PriceWaterhouseCoopers' comments on the lack of risk management), to see that my awesome government defence lawyer from the Working Standards Commission, make her final arguments on June 11th at the Commission des relations du travail (Workplace relations commission), and to this day I am stunned how much the opposition lawyer Maître Unhappy went on and on about attacking my integrity (the victim never seems to get any lack of verbal abuse, financially, and psychologically throughout this legal process, even twisting an example of volunteer work into a negative point), while committing perjury not once, but four times (buy hey, that's that the standard of professionalism I have seen from the CDPQ all along, so at least they are constant! Our Gracious Commissaire's amusement at the end of the pleadings left me with quite a sense of relief. I cannot wait to explain this coming Fall how I strongly believe that Financial Institutions cannot claim to fully complaint with law unless the databases used for financial reporting (attestations financieres) are set to use the Full Recovery Model – to do otherwise would be nothing less, in my opinion, that an example of involuntary fraud. Of course, one can claim that even if they do not backup a transaction log (where Simple Recovery translates into only the Active portion kept, not all the activity between Full backups, read here why), they still have Full Backups to rely upon for Auditing. But as even a layman on this subject commented and explained to me recently, having only a cross-cut of a database in time (because that is all a Full Backup is – a slice in time), principally one that is in constant flux (like those with values related to investments and surely operational financial databases usually are, would not be considered a complete backup, but only a crosscut backup.
Improvements to Home Infrastructure and Work Environment
Once again, I've setup a Wifi N network (D-link Claims Wireless N-Extreme Dual Band) but I am still not able to say, step out of the house in the back to make serious use of the wireless internet connection. In the office, which now has four walls and a door (open concept a little harder for writing concentration, and dampening the noise), I can achieve 130Mbps, but I am still waiting to fix the CAT 5e cabling that exists in the walls, after diagnostic tools are begged for, borrowed or stolen J
After several years using a squeaking annoying, back-ache inducing chair, I splurged (sorta) on a decent lumbar support included office chair. It seems like you need to drop about $250-300 to satisfy these needs. It's not so comfortable that I drift off to sleep either and obviously great for writing.
Short and Long Term Goals
Study and take Oracle exams to pass what is required to become an Oracle Associate.
Add a couple of more draughts to the up and coming article for Simple-Talk, which should be ready for newsletters and site by August, after the next round of proof-reader commentary.
Reference regarding lack of risk managment at the CDPQ: http://lapresseaffaires.cyberpresse.ca/economie/quebec/201007/08/01-4296715-caisse-de-depot-la-gestion-du-risque-etait-inefficace.php (Konrad Yakabuski of the Globe and Mail had revealed this about a year ago, so they are a bit late...)


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UIA increases the number of flights to Tbilisi in March
February 26, 2021: Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) announces the augmentation of frequencies in the Kyiv-Tbilisi-Kyiv direction. The decision is related to the resolution of the Georgian government to open the borders to foreign tourists from March 1, 2021. Accordingly, the airline will increase the number of frequencies to 4 flights per week. In addition, at the end of March, from March 28 up to 5 flights a week:
- Kyiv (KBP) - Tbilisi (TBS) - PS511, departure at 19:20 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays;
- Tbilisi (TBS) - Kyiv (KBP) - PS512, departure at 06:15 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays;
- Kyiv (KBP) - Tbilisi (TBS) - PS513, departure at 09:50 on Tuesdays and Thursdays;
- Tbilisi (TBS) - Kyiv (KBP) - PS514, departure at 14:35 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
In addition, the schedule of flights from Kyiv and Tbilisi has become more convenient for passengers.
To cross the Georgian border, all citizens will need to present two PCR tests - one test taken within the last 72 hours, the other test after three days in the country.
Ukraine International Airlines applies safety standards and procedures in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization, the International Air Transport Organization, the European Aviation Safety Agency, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, as well as the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the State Aviation Service. Of Ukraine.
The peculiarities of passenger service at Boryspil Airport can be found by the link.
Safety measures on board aircraft can be found here.


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Las Vegas (US: ; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and 2nd-largest in the Southwestern United States. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as the Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its luxurious and extremely large casino-hotels together with their associated activities.
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